


RWBY: Fallen

by FromShadows



Series: RWBY: Fallenverse [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fall of Beacon (RWBY), Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:34:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24800059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FromShadows/pseuds/FromShadows
Summary: An alternate take on RWBY from The Fall of Beacon onward.Rated T.  There shouldn't be anything too horrible in here, although it may go up to M later down the line just in case.All characters and worlds belong to Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth, and I hold no ownership to any of themBeacon has Fallen.  Team RWBY has scattered.  Weiss has returned home, Blake has disappeared, and Yang is stuck in the house as her parents try to train her to go back out into the world.  None of this has stopped Ruby Rose.  She has formed Team RNJR, and against her uncle's and father's wishes, she has begun her journey to Mistral's Haven Academy, to track down Cinder Fall and her cohorts, to put a stop to their schemes.  What she doesn't realize is that powers far bigger than she could ever imagine have taken an interest in her and her abilities.  As she journeys across Remnant, she begins to hear rumors of The Black Queen.  Little does she or her friends know that they will all soon be affected by this Black Queen, as she begins to spread her influence across Remnant.  Beacon was only the beginning, and now, Salem, The Black Queen, is ready to move to phase two of her master plan.
Relationships: Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Series: RWBY: Fallenverse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1793740
Comments: 3
Kudos: 6





	1. The Fall: Jaune Arc

**Author's Note:**

> Just some stupid little tidbits of lore real quick for the Fallenverse
> 
> The Kingdoms have accents. This is just something stupid I did for the hell of it.  
> Accent References:  
> Vale: Melting Pot  
> Mistralli: Eastern (Ren), Greek (Pyrrha) or Irish/Scottish/Gaelic (Adam)  
> Mantelian: Norwegian (Nora), French (Ilia), and Italian (Blake and Penny)  
> Atlesian: German (Weiss, Whitley, and Jacques Schnee), Russian (Watts), and British (Winter and Ironwood)  
> Vacuan: Australian (Sun) and Hispanic (Fox)
> 
> Menagerie has, at least at this phase in my writing, been cut out. I intend to tackle the Faunus differently to the how the show did.  
> Also, as a warning to my readers, I write inconsistently. I will attempt to post updates monthly and/or bimonthly.  
> In the meantime, sit back, relax, and I hope you enjoy part one of my tale.

The sky was black, no stars to be seen, and the moon was hidden. Whether it was smoke or clouds, Jaune did not know. His short blond hair ruffled in the wind, alongside the flowing crimson hair of his partner, Pyrrha Nikos. The tower behind them held the secret to why all of this was happening. A person who Jaune didn’t recognize, unconscious with a sickly black ooze scarring her face, like the web of a cruel spider. Not that it mattered. That person was no more. And it was his fault. He was the one who was supposed to guard her. Protecting Ozpin, Pyrrha, and the woman. They were his responsibility. 

And in the moment, he thought he was ready. There he had stood, below the ground in a dark olive colored hallway. Behind him was a machine, clearly from Atlas with its shiny silvered steel and intense blue lighting on the panels. It seemed to resemble two coffins, but with large wires connecting them both, and positioned so those within were standing upright. In one end rested the tan woman who Jaune did not recognize, and in the other end, there was nothing, or rather, no one. _Stand Guard. There is no time for questions Mr. Arc._ Ozpin’s words still rang through his head from those moments ago. Those very few moments ago. He had assumed a guardsman’s stance, just as Pyrrha taught him. Feet spread apart a little, knees slightly bent, shield raised slightly, and sword held by his face, up and ready for whatever could enter the dimly lit halls at any given second. The light gleamed off the blade, and Jaune’s blue eyes remained locked on the way they came from.

Behind him, he could hear Ozpin talking to his partner. _Miss Nikos, are you positive this is what you want? There will be no going back._ Jaune didn’t see Pyrrha’s nod to know her answer. He didn’t need to hear that this was why Pyrrha had been so cautious not even six hours ago. This, whatever it was, was what she believed her destiny was. He’d never been one for destiny, but if Pyrrha was sure about this, then he was sure. A hiss behind him, a few footsteps, another hiss, and a small metallic clunk as what he assumed was Pyrrha entering the machine. _Miss Nikos, are you ready?_ Silence, most likely another nod.

 _I…I need to hear you say it…please._ Jaune was taken aback. The Headmaster rarely ever asked for anything, much less with this much desperation in his voice. Everything must have been even more hopeless than he originally thought.

 _I’m ready._ Pyrrha’s voice seemed so much smaller than he thought it could be, filled with her own nerves, and sending a slight chill down his spine. He knew she was guilt ridden about Penny, and scared of the extra responsibilities of this power, but not this much. The Huntsman-in-Training’s stance slackened slightly, but he remained firmly gazing toward the door, glancing behind him only for the briefest moment, seeing Pyrrha now standing inside the machine. The torchlight of the hallway began to flicker slightly, as overhead the flames swayed, the hall rumbling from the commotion outside. A massive _THOOM_ sounded from up above, followed quickly by an earsplitting roar, belonging to the Wyvern, a monstrous Creature of Grimm that had awoken from within Mount Glenn. How long it had been resting there was a question for another time. Jaune looked back down the hall, seeing nothing but blackness.

 _I’m sorry…_ Jaune couldn’t process what that meant. He didn’t have the time to. Behind him, a loud mechanical hum began to fill the halls, quickly drowning out the chaos of the conflict up above. A golden light began to bathe the halls from behind, and Jaune’s shadow grew with the light. Then…a scream. Pyrrha’s scream, a cry of pain, something Jaune never thought he would hear in his life. He turned around, calling out his partner’s name, but the second he did, he heard a high-pitched whistle.

Time slowed down. The soaring cry of a speeding object whisked past Jaune’s ear. From the corner of his eye, Jaune saw a sharp, glass object, the color of pure darkness, glinting ever so slightly in the torchlight, and then gleaming from the intensity of the machine’s golden glow. Jaune felt the arrow brush against his hair, just missing his ear, as it continued its path toward the machine…but not toward Pyrrha. Toward the other side.

Glass met glass. The arrow’s tip punctured through the machine like it was butter. A crack could be heard, followed by a soft _squelch_ , as the arrow found its mark. The stranger in the machine. Her heart was pierced by the arrow. A choked gasp could be heard as she bled, trying to hold onto the last shreds of her life. It was all for naught. The glow of the machine instantly flew back into the stranger’s heart, abandoning Pyrrha. For a split second, it surrounded the arrow, until the woman died. The blinding light flew back faster than any projectile Jaune had seen before, and he whirled around, following the light as it slammed into another. Jaune recognized her from the Vytal Tournament. Cinder Fall.

The room instantly began to heat up rapidly, as if a fire was suddenly ignited throughout the halls. The glass floor began to cry out in pain from the heat licking along its surface as a flame ignited in the center of the room, engulfing the murderous woman. She became nothing but a shadow in its center, and to Jaune’s shock, she began to rise off the ground, floating before him as the flame roared out its arrival, before swirling around Cinder, and entering her body completely, the power accepting its new host. Glass clinked loudly as Cinder returned to the ground, eyes closed, a small smile decorating her face. Jaune didn’t care what that power could do to him. He charged. A war cry left his lips as he raised his shield in front of him, and held his sword to his side.

He never reached his target. Cinder opened her eyes, and inside them, Jaune saw dancing flames, crueler than any other flames he had ever seen. He felt a blast of heat fly all over his body, and a mighty shockwave sent directly into the center of his shield. His feet left the ground and he soared backward, landing in front of the machine a few feet away, his aura protecting him from any severe harm. He heard Pyrrha yell out his name from behind, and then the slamming of metal on metal as Pyrrha tried to use her semblance to blast her way out of the locked down machine.

Jaune slowly sat up, and saw smoke slowly disappearing from the center of Cinder’s outstretched palm. The wicked woman laughed at her new display of power, but only for a short moment. The door to the machine flew off its hinges and flew over Jaune’s head, the force of it causing the air to ruffle Jaune’s golden hair. The silvered door flew at Cinder, and for a moment, Jaune swore that it would hit her, until another blast of flame sent the door up into the air. A third flame, somehow hotter than the other two, as from where Jaune was he could feel the searing kiss of its heat, charred the door until the metal was black with soot, shattering the glass into hundreds of sharp particles that rained down onto the floor below.

Jaune began to stand up as Pyrrha rushed past him, summoning her red and gold javelin, and her bronze spear to her hands with her polarity. Jaune’s heart began to race as Pyrrha began to close the distance, until suddenly an arm was shoved in front of her. The sleeve of a dark olive green suit stretched across Pyrrha’s chest, and prevented her from going any further. Ozpin pushed the girl back, and Jaune noticed that the professor had removed his black jacket, seeing it in a heap on the floor not that far away.

 _Jaune, Pyrrha!_ That cry of desperation from the Professor was the first time Jaune had ever heard him use their first names. _Run. Get help. Find Glynda, James, even Qrow and send them to me. The tower_ must _not fall._ Pyrrha tried to move forward again, but was once more stopped by Ozpin. _No Miss Nikos. This is my fight._ Pyrrha tried to move the Headmaster’s arm, but to Jaune’s disbelief, his arm remained firm, not budging an inch.

 _But I can help!_ Brown eyes turned, warm pride within them for what lasted only a second, before they steeled back up, harder than anything Atlas could produce in its refineries.

 _You would only get in the way…_ At his tone, Jaune could see that he had severely underestimated his Headmaster, and glancing at Pyrrha, it was clear she did too, as she backed down, a sad, almost defeated look hidden in the green of her eyes. She turned toward Jaune, clasped his hand, and the two ran off through the hall, passing by Cinder, who let them leave. Her attention was all on Ozpin. Not much father had they run when from behind him, Jaune heard Cinder speak.

 _She was right about you. Such arrogance._ Jaune wasn’t given time to process those words.

He was ripped from his thoughts of mere moments ago by a nearby explosion. Another Atlesian dropship had fallen from the sky, colliding into the ground with a bright orange inferno rising from the small crater it made in the courtyard. Jaune looked around, blue eyes filling with horror as he took in the surrounding sights. Smoke was rising from the city at the bottom of the cliffside. Beacon Academy was ablaze, and some of the emerald spires had fallen. The massive metallic Atlesian Airships were burning, dropping out of the sky from the sheer overwhelming force of the Grimm, with swarms of Griffons and Nevermores quickly taking their place. The Atlesian Knights, sent to guard the school and the people of Vale from any possible threats during the Vytal Festival had turned, and many were torn to pieces and now laid on the ground, next to the Huntsman they betrayed.

Jaune looked over to Pyrrha for guidance…and was shocked to see tears pooling in her olive colored eyes. Some began to stream down her cheeks, and they fell through the air, hitting the ground soundlessly. She gulped once and turned to Jaune, opening her mouth to say something, before being interrupted by a roar coming from inside Beacon Tower. Jaune and Pyrrha whirled toward it, weapons drawn and ready for whatever came out of the tower, but nothing came through the broken doors. All they saw was a blur of red and orange, leaving a smoke trail behind as it flew up the elevator shaft, and Jaune’s stomach filled with dread.

“P-Professor Ozpin…” His voice broke and filled with a moment of grief for their teacher. He hadn’t known their professor well, but he was always kind to him, and somehow always had the proper advice for any given moment, as if he had lived those types of moments himself. He turned toward Pyrrha and saw her fist tightening around her weapon, and her muscles began to tense. Pyrrha looked back at him, and they knew what they were about to do. Jaune pulled out his scroll, sending a message to Ren, Nora, and Ruby, warning them of what they were about to do and requesting back up. He prayed that they would get it, and he slowly returned it to his pocket.

He wasn’t at all prepared for what happened next. A bronze armored gauntlet suddenly found itself at the collar of Jaune’s hoodie, the one he wore beneath his white armor. He felt it instantly pull him forward, and he froze. Pyrrha’s lips had locked to his. They remained there for only a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity. All their pent-up feelings had finally poured out in that moment, their love, their happiness, their desperation, and their desire to see tomorrow. The kiss broke after a few eternal seconds, and they looked into each other’s eyes for the briefest of moments. A silent apology for if they failed. Jaune didn't yet know that ‘if’ would soon be a ‘when’…but he was to learn.

They turned toward the tower and sprinted toward the shattered entrance. The shards of glass crumbled back to sand beneath their feet, accompanied by sickening cracks and crunches. The elevator they had just exited a mere moment ago had lost its doors, and the molten metal of the freshly made hole in its center had just finished cooling. They entered the box, and with one final look toward each other, Pyrrha used her Polarity, and they began rocketing upward, toward the top of Beacon Tower, where destiny awaited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N
> 
> And that's Chapter 1 folks. Easily the shortest chapter in the series far. It's taken a lot of time to get where I am with the story, and I do have more completed content, which I will post within a month. I hope you have all enjoyed, and rest assured, I know its *another* Fall of Beacon take, cause there aren't already a million of those, but there will be some changes to the Fall itself that I hope will make writing it, and reading it, worth it in the long run. Thank you for reading.


	2. The Fall: Weiss Schnee

The black sky filled Weiss with a sense of dread. It was as if no light wanted to shine down on the battlefield. Not a semblance of hope would be allowed to exist while the shrieking Wyvern soared overhead. The heavens above did not wish to share their favor with the students. The students…who fought until they no longer could. Cries of terror and anguish were drowned out by the roaring of the Grimm. Nevermores and Griffons plucked students off the battlefield and carried them off into the distance. Ursai and Creeps swarmed and tackled their victims to the ground. Numerous King Taijitu were slithering in and wrapping around their prey, crushing them. And the Atlesian Knights, meant to protect Vale from the Grimm, had been hacked and turned against the Huntsmen they served with. Even the fleet of airships was gone, an unknown traitor having torn through the others with their cannons, causing them to come crashing down to the earth below.

It was all Weiss could do to press on. Keep fighting. She ran Myrtenaster through the skull of a Beowolf, and then slashed open a Boarbatusk’s belly, making both disintegrate, leaving their bones behind. She was here, in the middle of Beacon’s Fountain Courtyard, surrounded by bones, mostly Grimm, but human. Team CFVY and Team SSSN were at her side, helping fight off the endless onslaught of enemies. Her own team was scattered to the winds. Last she knew, Yang was still in the dorms. Blake had run off not long ago to go find her. And that utter _dolt_ Ruby was Oum only knows where. If only she could have a thirty second break, she’d be able to send a quick message to her team, begging for any backup. But any breaks were a fantasy.

No matter how many shots Coco poured into the enemy with Gianduja, the Grimm and Knights kept coming. They were running low on bullets, and Weiss was running low on dust. She needed to restock somehow, but her spare supply was back in the dorm. She needed to find an opening and take it, run as fast as she could to her dorm, and restock her sword. Maybe bring back one of her briefcases to help supply the other students. All she’d need was the tiniest opening. The smallest window to climb over the boneyard and run for the dorms. Hells, she could sneak through the dining hall once she got the chance. That just might work.

Weiss turned toward Coco, ready to relay her plan, before suddenly, pairs of loud footsteps smashed into the ground from a nearby alleyway. An Atlesian Paladin-290A slid around the corner, facing the courtyard, the red lights of the robot glowing ominously. Within a second, the machine raised up its mechanical arms, and opened fire. The barrels flashed like lightning and the thundering cracks of the gunpowder igniting rapidly as bullets rained down around the students.

Weiss took cover behind a chunk of sharp, scorched metal. Was it from an airship? Or another Paladin? The minutes had blurred for Weiss. So much that she could only watch as her fellow Huntsmen in Training were mowed down, while others took cover behind the fountain. The stone walls holding in the water began to bleed as bullets slammed into them. The metallic statue began to groan in pain as it was dented beyond repair, and the paths surrounding it were shattering, sending shards of bone and splinters of stone flying in all directions.

“-covering fire! Velvet, get in there!” _Really? Velvet? Her own team didn’t even let her move on Vytal because her weapon was too experimental._ Weiss peeked from her cover, at the Paladin leaving destruction in its wake, and at the small hare Faunus that was moving up to engage it. Weiss turned back to Myrtenaster and quickly spun the cartridge, landing on fire dust. It too was dangerously low. Weiss would only have a couple shots, not nearly enough to melt through the Atlesian armor.

The world went silent then. Weiss could only hear her breathing. The sounds of gunfire had stopped. Weiss gulped, and turned her head back to see what happened. In front of her, she saw the Paladin, stepping back and looking downward. She saw Velvet, stepping forward and holding out one arm to the side. Then…a brilliant flash of blue, turned into a beautiful arcing light. As the light hit its target, a small explosion was wretched from the robotic wiring, followed by a much louder metallic _cRaCk!_ Weiss felt her eyes widen. Velvet still stood, but in a stance that was all too familiar to the heiress.

Brown hair flowed in the wind, akin to the cape she had seen Ruby wear so many times. Velvet’s knees were bent in a crouching stance, and she swung a holographic projection of Crescent Rose around her, landing a perfect shot into the robot’s ‘faceplate’, exactly where its targeting computer was located. She then pulled the trigger on the gun, and it wretched the scythe out of the mech, the force of the shot sending the mech stumbling back two steps. The bot regained its footing, and quickly retaliated, swinging downward with a bludgeoning force toward the rabbit girl, enough to crush her.

Another flash of blue, and suddenly, Velvet stood up straight, a stance not unlike that of a dancer. She thrust her new weapon upward, the tip of Weiss’ rapier slamming into the bot’s arm, cracking the plate of its armor. Before the bot, or even Weiss could react, another flash of blue, and Velvet was in the air. Perfect replicas of Ember Celica adorned her wrists as she fired herself skyward, before somersaulting toward her opponent, and throwing a punch that mirrored Yang’s fighting style perfectly, firing a glowing blue rocket toward the bot’s face, and causing it to _CRASH_ to the ground. It didn’t take Weiss much longer to figure out why Velvet took so many pictures with Anesidora, and her semblance wasn’t hard to guess either. But Weiss couldn’t focus on that now. She’d just been given the opening she needed. She could hear Winter’s voice in the back of her head, telling her to stay in the moment. _Distractions will kill you Weiss. I won’t always be able to save you_.

Yes, distractions _would_ kill her. She had to run. The dining hall was right there. She had this one shot. She ran for it. Away from the sounds of battle, toward the dining hall. The bones around her crunched beneath her heels as she ran. She thought about friends she hadn’t seen since before this fight began. Could some of these bones be-…no, she couldn’t think about that. They had to have belonged to the Grimm. They had to…. As if on cue, Weiss suddenly felt a large mass slam into her side. She landed on the ground roughly, turning onto her back to see what attacked her.

It was a Creep, one of the biggest she’d ever seen, and an Alpha judging from the spikes along its spine. She was lucky that it didn’t impale her with them. Another student must not have been so lucky, as they were covered in red. She reached for Myrtenaster which had fallen next to her, but she could only brush her fingertips against the blade. The deformed creature seemed to notice it, and it snarled down at her, baring its shark like mouth at her, the rows of teeth clear as day, also blood red. Drool…or maybe just more blood, dripped from the creature’s mouth, landing beside Weiss’s cheek. She heard the small drops land beside her, and instead of fear, her emotions turned to anger. _No. She refused to die by this… **thing**. This would not kill her!_

Suddenly, a sword protruded from the creature’s stomach, stopping just an inch away from her own body. She watched the Grimm’s body slowly disintegrate, and its bones slowly crumbled from the sheer size of the blade that saved her. Speaking of the blade, it was a noticeably light blue, very nearly white. Had Velvet come to save her? No, that couldn’t be it. The blade’s color was different, and it seemed to be steaming? She needed a loser look, but the bones of the Creep suddenly fell on her.

Weiss quickly shoved the bones off of her and looked around for that blade…but she saw nothing. Only air where it had been. Cold air. She slowly stood, picking up Myrtenaster as she did, and did a quick check of her surroundings. Velvet was still duelling the Paladin, but it looked like she was still coming out ahead in that fight. No Grimm were charging her down, no Rogue Atlesian forces either. Good. She turned toward the dining hall and resumed her sprint toward it. The windows were shattered, and the door had fallen off its hinges. Smoke exited from the doorway, not thick, probably safe enough to sprint through despite the initial risks…but then she saw it, prompting her to skid to a stop. Light was flickering from within, no doubt from a fire. The path to the dorms was cut off, but the shadows in the light were what really drew her attention. A man, tall and horned, standing before a girl, with the top of their head resembling a cat’s ears. _Blake!_ Weiss burst through the doors, catching a few words from the man as he slammed the butt of his red bladed katana into Blake’s temple, knocking her over.

“-away your friends! Your _family_! For a bunch of _humans_. So, I will show you the price of that. I will take away _everything_ that you hold dear.” His accent indicated Mistralli descent, like Ren’s but from further west. He quickly looked up, and then turned around toward Weiss. The heiress took in the sight and remembered a sketch she had found in one of Blake’s journals. This was Adam Taurus, the mysterious general of the White Fang. He was dressed in all black, from his head to his boots, with a red material underneath, or maybe it was just blood covering his heels. The rest of his form was outfitted with a looser fitting material, Weiss couldn’t bother to identify it, as her attention was drawn beyond the black pants, and up to the suit jacket he wore, two buttons closed over his oddly crooked red shirt underneath. With his high collar, he seemed to be just a little larger, and Weiss noticed an oddly similar looking symbol on his left shoulder, just above where his heart would rest…Blake’s nightshade emblem but…beginning to wilt. Red, thorny vines bled upward from the white flower, and flowed onto his back, which Weiss recalled, had a wilted rose surrounded by those same thorns.

Finally, her eyes were drawn to the mask he wore. It only covered his forehead to his nose, much like that of an opera mask. It was bone white, with crooked, sharp, and slightly mismatching patterns leading from the pitch blackness of the eyes. Apart from the eyes, his face reminded her of a grimm, especially when paired with his spiky red, brown rooted hair, and the Faunus trait of his horns. If she had to guess, he was a bull faunus, but she couldn’t be certain. It didn’t matter anyway. He was threatening her friend, and whatever past they may or may not have had didn’t matter. She raised Myrtenaster, reaffirming her grip on it by tightening the fingers of her right hand, and she pointed it at Adam, speaking slowly, and calmly.

“Step away from her. I don’t _ever_ ask twice.” Adam’s jaw tightened slightly, and he snarled toward her, flashing his teeth as he sheathed his sword, before taking up a combative stance.

“I’m surprised a _Schnee_ would ever ask for anything.” He spat out her name, as if it was poisonous. “I didn’t even need to see or hear your Atlesian accent to know it was you. Your stench was enough.” Weiss, where before her time here, would have screamed like an ignorant child at Adam, simply scoffed. The comment stung, but she knew this one’s type. White Fang. An extremist. Blake painted a greyer picture on the black and white she once thought of Faunus, but that didn’t excuse this one’s actions. Attacking her school, threatening her friends. That would not be stood for.

“I _do_ need new perfume.” Weiss attempted to quip, before glancing down at her fallen friend. She noticed Adam had a boot placed on her wrist, trapping her down. Her aura must be low, otherwise she’d have cloned away from them by now and retreated. A small weak smile was on her face from Weiss’ poor joke, but it was quickly replaced by fear filling her amber cat’s eyes. She mumbled softly in her Mantelian accent. “B-be…careful…” Weiss looked back at Adam, and she watched as he quickly kicked Blake in the ribs, prompting a small pained cry from the kitten.

“Silence.” Weiss’ brow furrowed with anger, and she changed her stance, one more befitting of an offensive strike. She watched Adam slowly step forward once, then twice, before he got into a stance, hand on his sword, leaning on his front foot, ready to charge. His front foot slowly began stepping forward slightly, before trailing along the ground back to him. _Definitely a bull_.

“You’ll regret that last strike.” Adam’s smirk grew, a small laugh escaping his lips.

“I regret very few things. That won’t be one of them. I’m shocked that Daddy Dearest allowed his little girl to mingle with animals like us.” Weiss flinched slightly at that dig. _No!_ She heard Winter’s voice in her head. _Do not allow yourself to be unbalanced! You must have a stronger will than your opponent. Combined with skill. If he gets in your head, you’ve already lost._ Weiss took another breath, steadying herself, but that was when Adam suddenly closed the distance between them. A blur of reddened blackness moved in, and Weiss quickly performed a pirouette to the side, letting it pass by completely.

A flash of red and the ringing of steel told her exactly what happened if she failed, and she felt the cutting wind move beside her, before suddenly she found herself reflexively raising her sword, blocking the second strike, and yet she stumbled backward from the sheer strength of it. Suddenly Weiss grew much more terrified. She saw that Adam was well built, but she never imagined that he would be this strong. It surpassed her calculations completely. She didn’t have time to dwell on that fact though, as Adam stepped forward once, in a perfectly executed slash meant to decapitate her. Weiss leaned backward and watched the blade soar overhead, another flash of red gleaming wickedly in the firelight, and in the reflection, she could see her face, how horrified she must have looked. The second she would be clear of danger; she pressed her hands on the ground by her head. Adam meanwhile was performing a quick strike down toward her exposed stomach, and Weiss only had one direction to go, albeit a risky one.

As the blade soared downward toward her, Weiss used herself as a springboard, pressing her feet down slightly, before bringing them both upward, spreading her legs as she moved to her handstand, and, thankfully she had moved just enough to avoid any true damage to her, but like before, she felt the wind of the strike. It reminded Weiss that unlike any of her training bouts, where her aura would always be at maximum, and she’d be well rested and prepared to face someone who didn’t really want her dead, that it was impractical on the field of battle. Her aura was already low, she was exhausted, low on dust, and facing someone who was not playing a game. This was to kill. The next slash, Weiss didn’t determine where it would have hit, since she quickly pushed herself off her hands, only knowing the sword swung upward, and she landed back on her feet, but only just in time to parry a fourth diagonal slash going for her chest.

Well, parry was a loose term. Even though she put more weight into the block, Adam still knocked her sword back like she was nothing. However now, instead of stumbling, Weiss took this one in stride, spinning with the momentum of her blade, and following up with two quick strikes toward Adam, both jabs, one toward the leg, and one toward the chest. This was Weiss’s first mistake, jabbing. With as skilled as she calculated Adam to be, she should have known better than to try and simply poke him. She was poking the Lancer hive, asking to get stung. Adam deflected her first strike with the tip of his blade, and although she made her second stab, that would be her final mistake in the fight. Adam was more than prepared for the second stab toward his chest, and he quickly leaned to the left, raising the sheathe to his sword, and catching Myrtenaster with perfect precision.

The Schnee Heiress watched helplessly as her sword sank precisely where Adam wanted it to, and then, two things happened at once. Her vision was enveloped by a black blur, and a pain shot through her head as Adam slammed the hilt of his sword into her head. As she began to fall backward, she felt her sword be pulled roughly from her hand, and while her vision returned to her, she watched her sword fly away, landing on the far side of the room. She hit her back roughly on the stone floor and looked up at her opponent with a flash of fear in her eyes. Adam sheathed his sword above his head, a triumphant, wicked smirk on his face. Weiss moved to sit up, defiantly refusing to give him the satisfaction of an easy victory. But suddenly, a hot searing pain slashed through her aura, and down along her face. The red-hot sword was glowing somehow, and the tip cut down the left side of her face, starting just above where her scar began, and dragging itself cleanly downward, reopening the old wound from her father’s test. But it didn’t stop there. Her cheek was slashed open, adding to the scar that was already there, making it longer and more jagged, far less refined than it used to be.

She screamed. It burned horribly, and as a girl far too used to a colder climate, the burn felt infinitely hotter than it would have to almost anyone else. Warm blood began dripping from her wound, and she covered the left half of her face with her hand, feeling the blood soaking against her hand, and ever so slightly drip onto her white dress. She looked up at Adam again, but instead of defiance, all that was found in her opened ice blue eye was fear.

“I’ve always wanted to send the Schnees a message that would be meaningful to them. Your death will do far more than enough. That is, assuming your father cares about anything more than himself.” Adam raised his sword, ready to deliver one last crushing blow to Weiss. Until she felt a warm weight throw itself onto her. The heiress smelled smoke and ash on the weight, and she looked down to see the sea of black hair before her. _Blake…_

“Adam…please…” Weiss looked back up at the towering beast above, and she wished she could see his eyes…but they were hidden by that mask. In the light of the flames, he looked far more terrifying than Weiss thought could be possible, and despite Blake’s plea, she knew what the answer was before it even came. Adam was going to kill them both…she could see it as his triumphant smirk changed slowly to a snarl.

“You would really die for a _Schnee_? After everything they’ve done!? Everything they _continue_ to do!?” Weiss watched the grip upon his sword tighten, and then a slight twitch of his free hand, his left hand, reaching up slightly, toward the eye of his mask. Was he going to remove it? Hesitation, before his hand snapped back down to his side, hovering just over the sheath to his sword. “You chose the wrong side, Blake.”

The sword swung downward, the shriek of metal carving through air louder than the roaring of the flames filling the room. Weiss flinched backward, raising the arm covering her eye, her left, out of instinct. A futile effort no doubt…until suddenly…a bright, icy glow rose above her, and a loud _*clang*_ sounded from above them. A grunt of surprise caused Weiss to open her eyes, and she looked up in awe. It was a summon, the arm of one of the Atlesian Crusaders that were used as guardsmen for high profile people back in Atlas. It held a great sword in its metallic gauntlet, and it gave off an icy feel to it. The air around it had cooled dramatically, and its white form was outlined by a wintery blue aura, with little patterns akin to snowflakes in the wind found all over its arm and sword. Winter! She’d come to save them. She looked around for a moment, but realized that no one else had entered the room. The arm remained still. As did Adam.

Suddenly, two things were made clear. Adam’s sword was frozen in place by the summoned blade, a large shroud of ice encasing it, with small shards poking out of it, akin to a type of fish that was slipping Weiss’ mind for the moment. It didn’t matter right now. Her attention was drawn downward to the glow near the hand above her…no not near… _in_ her hand. A glyph, a snowflake, spinning clockwise rapidly. This arm…suddenly she realized what it was. It was a piece of the Crusader _she_ had defeated in her exit exam that allowed her to come to Beacon in the first place. This summon was her own…yet it was incomplete.

A loud cracking sound took Weiss out of her amazement, and she looked back toward Adam. She caught Blake’s eye, a look of a thousand questions passing over her ally’s face. Blake didn’t take the time to voice them. They both saw Adam starting to break his sword out of the ice. The two shared a quick nod, and Blake quickly melted into a shadow, reappearing behind Adam, Gambol Shroud raised to be brought down into his head. It was successful for the most part, the blade bouncing off his head, life saved only by his strong aura, and prompting a pained cry to erupt from the bull. Weiss did her best to control the summon, wildly waving the arm with her glyph to the right, and miraculously, she watched the arm move where she wanted it to go, albeit slowly. Far too slowly.

In the time it took for the arm to disengage from the first clash, Adam and Blake had already begun exchanging blows, metal clashing and glowing in the firelight. Weiss couldn’t make out everything that was going on, since she was relying on only one eye at the moment while keeping the other one closed. She could see that Adam had the clear upper hand, and she grew desperate. She had to help somehow. She brought her arm up, again reflecting the pose of a dancer, bringing up her right arm to grip the left by the elbow, supporting it as the sword slowly obeyed her command, raising above her head for a crippling overhead slash. Then, something completely unexpected to Weiss happened. Blake, in mid somersault over Adam’s head, suddenly took a shot to the gut. Adam had moved the front of his sheath downward, allowing Weiss to see the barrel at the end of it. Blake soared off course, barely landing on her feet, before falling to the ground. Weiss watched as the purple of Blake’s aura fizzled out around her. It had been broken, and now she was more vulnerable than ever.

Weiss desperately shouted, trying to get Adam’s attention away from Blake, as she brought her arm down. The massive sword moving much faster with gravity. Unfortunately for her, Adam was ready. The red blade, looking almost comically small compared to the massive one held in the arm of the Crusader, began to glow brightly, seemingly out of nowhere. Weiss suddenly felt her energy being drained, and watched as her summon began to shrink, before disappearing in a cloud of snow as Adam sheathed his blade. Weiss glanced toward Blake, who was struggling to sit up, and then back to Adam, who was now standing between her and the doorway. Between her, and any reasonable chances of escape, as the fires began to lick their way over any other possible exits.

Looking back on this moment, Weiss would find herself remembering time to slow down. Her legs felt like they weighed a whole ton each, as Adam began to close the distance between them. She would remember the clicking of her heels, and the thud of Adam’s boots as they moved. She would remember Blake’s weak struggle to sit up. She would remember Adam’s right hand, slowly reaching for the sheathed sword once more. His fingers slowly outstretching themselves, before they began to curl around the oily-black hilt of his weapon. She’d remember barely registering a flash of bright gold that she’d mistake for an actual flame in the distance behind Adam.

Time would seemingly slow even more. Weiss saw Adam turn his head ever so slightly, as if he noticed something she’d missed. Then, her ears began to pick up the sound. A war cry followed by the firing of Ember Celia…Yang’s weapons. _No…Yang wait!_ She would remember wishing she had said that. That would be seared into her mind as she watched helplessly. Adam, slowly turning around, and unsheathing his sword in a large arc toward Yang’s rapidly approaching, fiery figure. The world suddenly turned black, with the only visible things being a thin red arc of concentrated energy, the demonic red glow on the veins of Adam’s mask, hair, and rose on the back of his jacket and finally the golden glowing of Yang, her hair and body on fire, more enraged than Weiss had ever seen. Her right arm, ready and wound up for the punch of a lifetime.

The punch would never land. Weiss watched, her blue eyes widening, as Yang began to spiral out of control. But…something was missing. It took her a moment to realize it. The arm, ready to deliver its killer blow. It began to fall slowly, separated from Yang, as a small red flame enveloped it, burning it to ashes. Weiss’ jaw fell slightly, and tears filled her eyes, the cut on her left stinging wickedly. Yang…their strongest…had just been taken out like it was nothing, without her aura even breaking, and losing a limb in the process. _No…Yang…_ She felt time speed up, just as Yang’s broken body slammed into the floor. She was unconscious, and what little remained of her right arm, a small portion just below the shoulder…maybe half of her bicep length, was lit by that red fire. Her wound was dripping, not just blood, but golden liquid as well, slowly putting out that red flame, and trying desperately to repair her body. What aura was meant to do.

Weiss raced over to her fallen teammate and sank to her knees, feeling for a pulse against Yang’s neck. Despite Yang being unconscious, her heart was racing rapidly. Weiss theorized it was a combination of fear, shock, and her body desperately trying to repair with aura. Weiss tore off a chunk of her combat skirt, not caring that it was her favorite, and she desperately wrapped it around Yang’s injury, trying to stop the bleeding to the best of her ability. If it weren’t for the small tsk sounding from behind her, Weiss would have forgotten completely about Adam. She knew Winter would reprimand her for that, but she didn’t care. She had to protect her friend, and she didn’t have Myrtenaster to cauterize the wound.

A second later, Weiss heard another rage filled yowl. The black cat had leapt up, off of the floor, and toward Adam, attempting to stab the beast with her black steeled blade. Weiss watched, crying out for Blake to stop, but her plea fell upon deaf ears. She watched, helplessly yet again, as Adam quickly parried the strike, perfectly timed, and successfully disarming Blake. It didn’t stop her. Blake began clawing at Adam, all sense of form and control fleeing her. Weiss had to stop Blake before…it was already too late; she couldn’t even finish that thought process. Adam caught Blake’s wrist with his left hand and lifted it straight up into the air, and he drove his sword clean through Blake’s side, earning a gasping cry of pain from her, before placing a prompt push kick to her stomach, sending her flying backward, off of his blade, followed by a quick sheathing of his weapon. The cat landed on her back roughly, bouncing onto her right side, and skidding over to Weiss.

“Inflicting pain on her wounds me far more than you know, _Schnee_.” Weiss immediately began tending to Blake’s wound, tearing off a sleeve of her shirt, and tearing it in half. She couldn't bandage up Blake as well as Yang, but she would at least slow the bleeding. Blake whimpered in pain, still conscious, and able to feel the wound. Weiss turned toward Adam, the iciest glare she could have ever managed to do in her life sent his way. If a look could kill, Adam would be blasted into more pieces than the broken moon of Remnant. She didn’t bite back. She only glared, watching Adam yet again draw himself closer to them. Weiss knew it didn’t matter if they died now. Adam had already won. He delivered scarring blows that would be with them forever. She began looking around, desperate for any means of escape from this fate. She needed to get them out of there.

“There’s nowhere to run. And it’s pointless to fight. I’ve taken your weapons, and I’ve already proven that you are no match for me. It’s a shame. I expected a more legendary battle from a Schnee. I suppose I will have to keep searching.” Weiss knew what was coming next, and she looked away in fear. Her hand found Blake’s and she gripped it gently. Amber cat’s eyes met ice blue scarred eyes, a wordless exchange of apologies for everything that had come before. The initial hate, the animosity, the arguments…everything that the two had clashed over in the last two semesters. Together, they waited, fear shining in their eyes as they awaited their fate. _No…not like this._ Weiss slowly steeled herself and closed her eyes, ready to face her end with whatever dignity she could muster up. Her hand tightened around Blake’s, and she felt Blake’s hand tighten in turn.

The death blow never came. A hum filled the room, Weiss could see red beyond her eyelids, and she felt the air chill. She wasn’t sure what was happening, until suddenly, she could hear the ring of a new sword, and the clashing of new blades. Her eyes shot open, and she realized she was still here. She was still alive! The blades around her continued to clash, and she quickly looked up to their source. A woman in white stood before Adam, hair tied back in a bun, bangs long, yet combed to the side, albeit looking messier than usual no doubt from battle. She held two swords in her hands, both dueling sabers, and she was viciously attacking Adam with her blades. _Winter!_ Weiss immediately began trying to stand, finding it hard from her exhaustion, but she had just enough adrenaline to see it through. She helped Blake stand, and looked to the side, for the source of the loud hum.

A vortex, black and red, sat by Yang’s fallen form. It swirled softly and seemed almost otherworldly. From it, she could swear she heard the faint callings of a bird. Crows maybe? Or ravens? It didn’t matter. That had to have been where Winter had come from. As if to answer her suspicions, the vortex expanded, allowing Weiss to see through it like a window. She saw the other side, Professor Goodwitch, Professors Port and Oobleck! Students who had survived were evacuating. And she saw another figure, one she couldn’t recognize, but one who seemed to be holding the portal open.

She was dressed head to toe in black and red, with a shallow cut dress with black shorts underneath. A series of black beaded necklaces adorned her neck, and a belt carrying her weapon's sheath was wrapped around her waist. Her weapon seemed to be similar to Adam’s just based on the hilt design, but Weiss was too far away to tell. Attached to her belt was a long black coat of feathers, likely from a Giant Nevermore, with a red and white bandana material hanging behind her. Her forearms bore red armored gauntlets that protrude outward, and solid black gloves rested beneath them. She also wore black mid-thigh high leggings with red splatter patterns scattered around them and jet-black heels. Weiss couldn’t see her face, since it was hidden behind a mask that seemed to be made from the skull of a Grimm, and a large one at that. Perhaps it was from the same Nevermore she took the feathers from, especially since it had the slits for the monster’s four eyes. Her hair was the color of midnight, tied by a red bandanna in a loose ponytail with the ends resembling curved black feathers, keeping very in line with her supposed theme.

The figure looked through the portal, and downward, toward Yang’s body. Through the mask, Weiss could swear she saw a flash of crimson eyes, similar to Yang’s when she was angry or calling on her semblance. It didn’t matter. The figure quickly stepped through the portal and picked up Yang, holding the one armed girl in a bridal position, and quickly carrying her to the other side before they looked back at the girls, a woman’s voice coming from beneath the mask, a western Mistralli accent shining in her voice. “Hurry through!” Weiss looked back at Blake, who hadn’t yet let go of her hand, and she nodded, quickly letting go of her and watching the cat leap through the portal. She turned back to see Winter and Adam, still engaged in their dance of swords. Both fighters looked exhausted now, sweat dripping down their brows. Weiss called out to her sister.

“Winter! Hurry!” She watched her sister simply nod in response, her eyes never leaving Adam to present on opening, and with a quick parry of his sword, followed by a swift roundhouse to his face, the snow queen disengaged and ran for the portal, picking up Myrtenaster as she passed by it. Weiss quickly jumped through it the second she saw Winter begin to escape, and as the portal closed, she saw Winter landing beside her, safe on the other side, and heard the echo of Adam’s blade sounding, leaving him behind in the burning dining hall…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note
> 
> So that was Chapter 2. Hope it was enjoyable (in the best way that some of this depressing shit can be).
> 
> Another quick note to some rule bending I've made here is that Aura and Semblance rules have changed a touch. Aura will no longer be required to perform most Semblances, but it can boost a semblance beyond its normal capabilities. I will explore this in future chapters, along with Aura's abilities to not spoil anything.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and more will come at some point in July (in the next two weeks I hope).


	3. The Fall: Ruby Rose

For a girl with a speed-based Semblance, Ruby was still shaken by how fast it all was. It all happened in less than twenty-four hours. Twenty-four hours had dramatically changed her life. Yang had been eliminated from the Vytal Tournament for something only she had seen. Mercury had his leg shattered, yet he somehow returned from the hospital with barely any scratches on him. He and his leader, Cinder Fall, had set up her friends, Penny Polendina and Pyrrha Nikos to fight. They orchestrated Penny’s death. Ruby saw her be torn apart by her own strings. She saw the oil spill from her shattered body, watched the mechanical pupils dilate, and witnessed the light leaving her eyes. She remembered Pyrrha, falling to her knees in shock, her weapons clattering to the ground beside her. She remembered watching her friend’s life leave this world. And she remembered herself, falling to her knees and weeping, finding it so much harder to see through her tears.

And these twenty-four hours weren’t over yet. Here she was, rocketing upward on a locker, higher and higher in the sky as she gripped Crescent Rose tightly, its blade buried in her locker’s metal frame. She flew to an Atlesian airship, commandeered by an unknown assailant to destroy the other ships in the fleet. No one knew for certain who it was, but she had her theories. Emerald maybe, she hadn’t seen her when Penny…was hurt. Or maybe it was whoever the fourth teammate on Cinder’s team was, she hadn’t seen them at all, whoever they were. As the locker finished rocketing upward and started its descent, she found herself wishing she’d thought this through more. If she miscalculated, this wouldn’t end well at all. She could already hear Weiss yelling at her for it. _You didn’t think before acting again, you utter **dolt**!_

Maybe that was true…she only came up here after the General’s ship was shot down by his own Atlesian Knights. But someone had to do this. Someone had to be the hero, and she would do it so no one else had to. She was ripped from her thoughts when she realized the locker was going to fall short of her intended target. She was above the clouds and the airship now, but her plummet down to Remnant was increasing by the second. Time slowed down as she did the only thing she could think of. She positioned her body, so she was standing atop the locker, and as it turned to _hopefully_ just the right angle, she ripped Crescent Rose out of the locker, and jumped. She positioned the sniper behind her, placing her heels on the blade, and fired one, two, three shots, the force of which propelling her forward. The airship was so close…and as she began to plummet again, she landed, barely rolling forward onto the edge of the airship, and landing in a combative stance. No one was out here except her. That gave her the advantage.

She looked around for a moment, and suddenly she realized just how dangerous and stupid she actually was by doing that. Massive swarms of Gryphons and Nevermore were flying all around the ships, no doubt fueled by the shock and horror of tonight’s events. Had she paid more attention to the swarms of Grimm around her, she might have been more cautious about flying up here like a…well, a dolt. That didn’t matter now. Her gambit had paid off. She was on the airship, and no one knew she was here yet. She used that to her advantage, and she instantly began running toward the bridge. With a quick use of Petal Burst, she would erupt into a flurry of rose petals, and glide right up to the windows of the airship’s bridge. Thankfully, she was just short enough to duck down and remain out of sight when leaning up against the cold metal beneath the windows. She shivered softly, and wished she had the ability to listen inside, but all she could hear was the roaring of the airship’s engines, and the monstrous cries of the Grimm swarming around it. That didn’t matter now. She knew she _should_ feel nervous, but she didn’t. Not now…not when Penny just…she couldn’t think about that. She wouldn’t.

Instead she’d just configure Crescent Rose into its sniper form, bringing it down to her and reloading it with a cartridge of fire dust. Explosive rounds, or an extra punch if she was caught in melee combat. It didn’t seem that combat would wait for long, however. She didn’t hear it well, but a small shimmering melody seemed to play around her. Very faint normally, impossible to hear now. She took a few steps, to the side, and around to the doorway when she felt something invisible slam directly into her gut, knocking her down onto her back. Suddenly, the world in front of her literally shattered. The sky and Grimm remained where they were, but a figure stood in her way. Somehow, her shadow and form were completely hidden a moment ago. That girl was the same one from when they chased Torchwick through Vale, and the one that beat Yang in single combat before The Breach! Neo her name was…of course she was Cinder’s fourth.

The coattails of her white, wide cropped jacket blew gently in the breeze, the pink interior showing slightly, matching her collar and cuffs. The singular gold button glinted in the light of the shattered moon overhead, making Ruby realize just how high she’d sent herself. They were above the clouds, and the stars shined dimly with the Grimm still flying around their airship in swarms. The young Huntress rolled onto her side and was met by a swift kick to her stomach from white and black knee-high boots. She grunted and rolled from the kick, moving back a couple feet, at least five, maybe ten. She ended up on her back again, her red cloak wrapped around her recklessly, as she looked back over to her opponent.

Neo had her head tilted, as she looked down at Ruby with a sweet, sadistic smile. The parasol she was so fond of, Hush, was held up against her shoulders. Like her, it was also the color of the tri colored ice cream that Ruby was rather fond of. Neapolitan. Maybe there was a correlation in the names. Oh, who cares? She was a criminal, and she needed to get her butt kicked. Ruby groaned softly and stood back up, facing her enemy with a look of determination forming on her face. A small flash and a click popped up in front of her, prompting her to blink, and causing her to step back reactively, crouching down in her fighting stance again. When her vision returned a split second later, she realized Neo had only taken a picture of her. The girl’s multicolored eyes were narrowed, and that sadism turned into a coy, almost flirtatious look. Wait, her eyes…wasn't the left pink and the right brown just a second ago? Now the right was pink, and the left was brown…wait no she must have imagined that. Her brown was back to the right, and the pink on the left.

Ruby shook her head and quickly fired a round at the smaller girl. With her waves of pink and brown locks flowing behind her, Neo whirled around and opened her parasol, absorbing the impact of the explosive bullet in its deceptively tough mesh, and spinning back around to face Ruby. A small mock look of surprise was on her face, as if to say ‘Wow, you tried so hard!’ Ruby took a breath, she couldn’t let Neo get to her, that was how she’d lose. She had to have done something similar to Yang, especially when the tri-colored girl did a little bow to rub it in, as if she had deflected explosions like it millions of times for countless audiences. Maybe she had for all Ruby knew, but she definitely knew that it was pretty darn annoying. She fired another two rounds, but didn’t waste any more dust, quickly swapping Crescent Rose to its scythe variation. The first shot was yet again deflected, in the _exact_ same annoying fashion, before the second slammed into Neo, squarely in the chest…but she broke apart. Ruby shot an illusion, and she didn’t have long to wonder where Neo was before she heard the slightest sound of a footstep right behind her. She turned and deflected a kick with the long handle of Crescent Rose, Neo’s shin hitting the metal, and the pointed toe of her heeled boots stopped just shy of Ruby’s temple.

If she was at all pained or otherwise inconvenienced by kicking a pole, Neo didn’t show it. She was all smiles as she retracted her foot, standing on it for a brief second before she left the ground again. With the motion of a backward handless somersault, she slammed her foot into Ruby’s chin, prompting another grunt from the young Huntress-in-Training, but she wasn’t as dazed as Neo would have liked. She took the hit in stride, and countered with a spinning slash, activating the dust cartridge in Crescent Rose to ignite her blade with a deadly inferno. Neo dodged it expertly, _again,_ to Ruby’s annoyance, and their dance began. Ruby twirled her blazing blade, up, down, diagonally, left, right, everywhere she possibly could. Neo still was never hit. The small villainess spun, dodged, weaved, and parried Ruby’s strikes, her smirk never leaving her face. Each flip, each single-handed cartwheel, it began to frustrate Ruby more and more. It went on like this for at least two minutes, with Ruby losing track of how many fiery trails she had made with her weapon. Suddenly, Neo took the offensive.

Ruby couldn’t remember all the failed attempts to hit the girl she had made, but she remembered exactly where each of Neo’s precise and calculated strikes hit her. The first slammed into the side of her jaw, a kick identical to the first one Ruby had blocked, sending the girl spinning, and sprawling onto all fours. She barely managed to push herself back up to her feet before feeling the parasol slam into the back of her head. She stumbled forward, her grip on Crescent Rose slackening, and felt a third strike hit her on the shoulder. That arm let go of her weapon, sending the bottom of the hilt to the ground. A fourth strike hit her in the back of the knee, and she fell onto her knees. A fifth strike, she felt Neo wind up, and Ruby pounced. With a burst of rose petals flying from her cape, the girl used her speed boost to turn and slam the back of her scythe directly into Neo’s gut. The girl let out a winded breath, and coughed for a second, letting Ruby feel triumphant for the moment, while Neo glared daggers at the young reaper. The sweet smile was gone for a moment, and her face had contorted into anger. Ruby went to follow up with a downward slash, but Neo’s form shattered, leaving Ruby alone for a half a second. The young huntress stood back up and turned to face the bridge. She was breathing heavily, but she wasn’t down or out of the fight. Not yet.

But as her eyes focused in toward the goal of the airship’s bridge, her face fell when she spotted Neo, yet again in her path, but this time alongside another familiar face. One that she had locked up at the end of the previous semester. He stood there as he always did, with that smug, smirking swagger. His white suit jacket matched Neos, with a nice red lining and trim instead of pink. All three checkered buttons were closed, and his dress pants and polished black shoes seemed freshly cleaned…somehow. His silver scarf was neatly tied around his neck, as always, and of course, he went nowhere without his famous bowler hat. The red band wrapped around the black dome still had its small feather, and beneath the brim of the hat, Ruby noticed a small T-shape. Ruby had to hand it to them, they were criminals, but they definitely knew how to dress.

“Well, well Neo, it appears Little Red has strayed off her woodland trail.” Roman Torchwick shared a smirk with his partner in crime before he sneered at Ruby. His infamous cane, Melodic Cudgel, was gripped in one hand, the bottom end resting on the metallic floor of the airship as he leaned on it smugly with one hand. “What do you think she was trying to accomplish? Last I checked, flowers couldn’t fly.” The pink and brown hued girl shrugged mockingly, she herself not looking at Ruby, as if the rose wasn't worth their time. “She really should learn, going places you don’t belong will get you into trouble. What would Mother say?”

Ruby instantly fired a quick shot toward Roman, but Neo stepped in front of him, using her parasol as a shield. The fires of the explosive round were redirected to fly up, down, and around Neo and Roman, but never touch them. As the flames disappeared, it left the wicked pair, and somehow even the parasol she shot twice now, completely unscorched. “If you don’t want to get hurt, I’d suggest surrendering.” The silver eyed girl glared at them, face stoic and determined, but Roman simply tilted his head back in a laugh.

“ _Please_ Red, who’s going to stop us? You? It’s cute that you think you can win, but look around you!” Roman dramatically threw up his hands, gesturing to the swarms of Grimm surrounding them and their airship. “You’ve already lost. Go back home and enjoy life while you still can, kid. The world is going to change bigtime, and you can’t stop it.” He turned to leave, but Ruby fired her final dust enhanced bullet at the ground next to him. The metal erupted, and small shards flew in several directions, leaving a tiny crater in the ground. A single smoldering shard landed on his shoe, and Vale’s Most Wanted sighed softly, gently kicking out his foot and sending the little ember flying away. “Alright then Red. Put on a good show for us.’

He lifted his cane a split second later, and Ruby’s eyes widened as she watched the little targeting scope pop up from the end of it. Roman pulled the trigger, and a roman candle fired directly toward her, the bright orange light illuminating the dark sky all around them and reflecting off of the metal below them. It rocketed toward the young reaper, and right before it hit her, she quickly did a flip backward, and slashed upward with her scythe, cutting the explosion clean in half as it flew for another few feet, before erupting into flames behind her as she landed in her fighting stance. She took a brief second to exhale the breath she had been holding, before she began dashing toward her opponents. Roman nodded, and Neo smiled, her eyes narrowing wickedly, before she moved in and met Ruby halfway.

Another dance ensued, but this time, with Ruby taking the lead. Neither opponent was holding back this time around, and Ruby was going for the hard strikes. She twirled her Scythe in her hands, constantly twisting and adjusting it to keep Neo on the back foot, but the smaller girl never seemed to be at a true disadvantage while Ruby repeatedly slashed toward her. A back flip, a falling backward roll, and a few deflections of each strike caused Ruby to work harder than she ever had in a fight. The only sounds she could hear were the shrieks of hundreds of Grimm, the parting of air as she slashed toward her opponent, and the occasional scraping screams of metal meeting metal when her slashes missed Neo and cut into the ship’s paint. Neo did another dodge, before she performed a perfect backwards handspring away from Ruby. Out of desperation, the younger girl jumped into a butterfly spin, and threw Crescent Rose toward the criminal. Again, she missed, as the spinning scythe scraped against the airship once more, leaving the shallowest of cuts on its hull. As she touched back down on the ship’s surface, she caught her scythe and slammed it downward, blade first, this time puncturing the airship’s hull and keeping her sniper steady as she fired a bullet toward Neo.

The tricolored girl landed, and her smile widened as Ruby’s bullet slammed into her, making her break apart into thousands of glass shards. As they scattered, Ruby’s eyes widened when she saw Roman quickly line up a second shot, and fire. The projectile slammed into her before she could react, and she flew backward, her grip on her scythe tightening as it carved a large tear into the hull, sending sparks flying as the metal was ripped open. She landed on her knees, but she felt the ship tilt ever so slightly, as gravity began to pull her toward the front of the ship. It wasn’t falling, but it was tilted just enough that one wrong step could send her rolling off the ship. She started to breathe heavily, and felt a new fear enter the pit of her stomach. Roman and Neo were far more skilled than she was. She’d have to fight smarter than them, but Roman wasn’t an idiot. Far from it.

Speaking of Roman, he walked up to Ruby, and looked down at her, a smirk on his face as he placed down his cane, and leaned against it with his forearms, almost resting his chin on his hands. “You are just _determined_ to be the Hero of Vale, arencha?” She must have looked as scared as she felt, because when she looked up at Roman, his smirk simply widened.

“Why? The Grimm will be so much harder to destroy without these ships.” That earned the slightest eye roll from Roman, as he gestured towards the sky around them yet again.

“That’s the idea, Red. You catch on quickly.” Roman aimed at Ruby, ready to deliver another quick shot with his cane, but Ruby quickly slapped it away and brought up her leg, kicking him in the shin. He growled in pain as he stumbled forward, closer to the edge of the airship. Ruby quickly rolled forward, firing her gun to rip the blade out of the airship, and she landed on her feet. As she was standing back up, Neo quickly rushed in, not giving Ruby any time to breath or recover. Ruby swung her scythe toward her, but Neo, timing the blade’s movement perfectly, backflipped right over the weapon, and with her free hand, she pushed the blade downward while shooting herself upward. When she was straightened up in the air, Neo delivered a flying roundhouse into the back of Ruby’s head, causing her to stumble forward. Ruby turned and tried to slash at Neo again, but she backflipped out of the way, and then stepped forward once. Using her hand to steady her, she leaned back into a hook kick with her right foot, and then a follow up kick with her left, before landing on her feet and doing another mocking little bow. As Ruby cried out softly in pain, she stumbled backward, nearly toppling off the side of the airship and into the swirling swarm of Griffons and Nevermore, flying over the clouds below her.

She stepped back a few, making sure it was enough distance to where she would fall off of the ship, and she turned toward Roman and Neo. Neo was walking back over to Roman’s side. Clearly, she wasn’t in this fight to win it outright. She was enjoying this too much. Compared to Roman’s rather serious expression, she wondered if they were trying to kill her, or just beat her down into retreating. Either way, she wouldn’t back down, and she wouldn’t give up when there were lives at stake. She held up her scythe in one hand, a defensive pose, but she kept the tip of the blade tilted toward them.

“But…why? What do _you_ get out of this?” Roman clicked his tongue and shook his head slowly. He closed his eyes as the wind began to pick up, Neo’s tri colored hair flowing, and Roman’s orange hair beginning to wave in the front, showing Ruby his second green eye, but she couldn’t read his face enough to tell what he was feeling.

“You’re asking all the wrong questions, Little Red. It’s not about what I _gain_. It’s that I can’t _afford_ to lose.” His eyes narrowed into a glare, and Ruby didn’t wait for Roman to finish whatever monologue he had planned out. She charged in, taking a swipe toward Roman with her blade. Roman quickly parried the strike and stepped back. Ruby slashed at him again, but her eyes widened as she realized she lost sight of Neo. Roman ducked under the second strike, and as Ruby’s blade soared past him, Neo jumped over Roman, steadying herself with a hand on his back, and using him as a springboard, she quickly threw a side kick into Ruby’s chin, causing the girl to tumble back. Neo then backflipped up high and out of the way, and as Ruby was distracted by her, Roman pulled the trigger of his cane and slammed it into the ground, the roman candle launching it to slam into Ruby’s jaw, before returning to his hand. With a quick flourish, he moved the cane up behind his head, angling the shot to be just right, before firing another projectile into Ruby’s chest, sending her over the ledge. As she fell, she flipped in the air, and slammed her blade down in front of her. Her scythe once again cut into the ship’s metal, and it began slowing her fall until eventually she reached a stopping point, leaving her dangling over the side.

“I pride myself on being a good gambler, but even I know there’s some bets you just don’t take. If you were in my shoes, I think you’d understand how some things are important enough to sacrifice the world for. And if that’s what has to happen to protect those things, well…” He shrugged and gestured to Neo. Her glaring grin widened even more, to an almost insane sneer, and she began walking over to Ruby. A small blade protruded from the girl’s parasol, and she reached the ledge, aiming the weapon toward the dangling cloaked huntress. “Like it or not, the people down there are determined to change the world. You can’t stop them, and _I_ can’t stop them, so you know the saying. If you can’t beat ‘em.”

Ruby’s breathing began to shake as she dangled over the storm below. A Griffon flew up toward her rapidly, opening its beak to make a morsel of her, but a well-placed kick to the creature’s eye sent it away, screaming in pain as it moved under the ship and rejoined its brethren. She looked back up toward Neo, staring at the tip of the blade, before she noticed a pink button above the villainess’ hand. In a lightning fast movement, fueled by her semblance, she reached up and clicked the button, causing Neo’s blade to retract, her umbrella to open, and sending her flying over the edge and floating downward into the black clouds and swarming Grimm below.

“NEO!” Ruby heard Torchwick’s frightened cry as she climbed up Crescent Rose, and back onto the deck of the ship. She ripped the scythe out of the airship and took a combative stance. Her silver eyes were filled with a new determination. A stubbornness desperate to prove Roman wrong. They were met by a glare from emerald eyes, and before he could say anything, Ruby spoke first.

“You can make whatever gambles you like. But I don’t care what you say. I don’t care what you do. We will stop them. And I will stop you! _Bet on that!_ ” Ruby began rushing toward Roman, before erupting into a flurry of rose petals, moving swiftly in a zigzag pattern. Back and forth, trying to throw him off. What happened next was beyond anything she thought Roman capable of. Roman fired one of his explosives toward her, and time slowed down. In the second that followed, the glowing projectile left the barrel of Roman’s gun, Ruby zigzagged to his other side, in slashing range now, and she brought up her weapon, before Roman caught the explosive with the hook of his cane, and threw it at Ruby. It slammed her directly in the chest and sent her flying back. She let go of Crescent Rose from the impact, and as she reached to grab it again, Roman shot out the hook of his cane, tethering the weapon toward him, before he tossed it to the floor of the airship. When Ruby landed on her back, she quickly stood back up, but Roman suddenly closed the distance, slamming her in the face with another strike from his cane, before finally he flipped the cane in his hands, and fired another explosive point blank into her stomach, shattering her aura and sending her flying.

Ruby tried to twist in the air like Neo did so she could land on her feet, but it only resulted in her landing roughly on her side and sliding toward the ship’s bridge. “Ngh…oww.” She groaned and sat up, trying to recover, as Roman slowly made his way over.

“You just don’t know when to quit do you?” He sounded disappointed in her, almost like a brother would scold their younger sibling, before his tone shifted to aggression. “You’ve got spirit, Red. I’ll give you that. But this is The Real World!” He reached Ruby’s side, and as she struggled to sit up, she raised one hand defensively. “The Real World is _cold_!” He raised his cane, before slamming it down into Ruby’s side. She winced from the impact and felt a sharp pain in her ribs. “The Real World doesn’t care about _spirit_!” He raised his cane for another strike, but Ruby quickly kicked him in the knee, sending him stumbling backwards a couple steps.

“You want to be the Hero of Vale so badly, Little Red? Fine. Then play the part and _die_ like every other Huntsman in history!” Ruby struggled to rise back up to her feet, before she felt Roman’s cane slam into the underside of her jaw, knocking her onto her back yet again. Looking up at the sky was becoming too familiar during this fight. She groaned and looked up at the stars, and the shards of the moon that she could see in the corner of her eye. She watched as numerous Grimm flew above and overhead, their wings blacking out the sky for the briefest moment as they circled the ship like vultures.

“As for me, I’ll do what I do best.” Ruby looked up, staring at Roman as he twirled his cane around one finger, slowly approaching Ruby with a dark glint in his eye. “Lie, Steal, Cheat, and SURVIVE!” He raised his cane to strike again, but suddenly a loud explosion was heard toward the back of the ship. Ruby rolled over, and saw fire and smoke rising from it, and watched as a Nevermore shot its razor-sharp feathers directly toward the engines of the ship. A small mechanical groan could be heard, and the ship began to drop from the sky. It tilted forward, and Ruby and Roman began to slide down the hull. They fell, down, down, down, past the swirling swarms of Griffons, and into the dark clouds below. Ruby began to panic, and she heard Roman’s cry of terror as they continued to fall. When the ship was nearly vertical to the ground, Ruby noticed her weapon in the air nearby. She continued to slide for another second, before she took a leap, fueling it with her semblance, and sapping the energy from her body.

With a burst of speed, she managed to catch her scythe, placing the blade beneath her feet yet again, and firing her weapon. She soared through the sky, and every couple of seconds as she fell, she’d fire again to slow her fall, until finally, after what felt like forever, she landed safely on the ground. She turned around to see what had become of the airship, and saw Roman falling, with the airship landing on top of him. It exploded, burning the world around it and forming a crater filled with smoke and fire. Ruby stared at it for a moment longer, and as Grimm dived in to pick off the scraps of whatever humans remained, she turned and began running back to Beacon Academy. She hadn’t landed that far away, and she’d be able to make it back in a few minutes. As she ran, her thoughts kept bugging her, wondering if somehow…no. _No one could have survived that…_

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

The young Rose burst into Beacon’s Fountain Courtyard, the entry point into the school normally, and she came sliding to a stop after a moment, taking in the sight in front of her. All around her, there were numerous students from all four Huntsmen Academies. Shade, Atlas, Haven, and Beacon. They were all in one group, and it was much smaller than the crowd that took up the fight when it began. Some had fallen, others ran, and others had already retreated into the line of Bullhead airships. She couldn’t see him, but she heard Professor Oobleck’s voice ring out through the crowd. “We’ve ordered an official retreat, students. Board the airship and make your way to the safe haven in Vale. Listen to the Atlesian personnel. They’ve taken charge of this mission and will escort you all to your homes.”

Ruby began to run through the masses of people, toward where Oobleck’s voice had come from. She could ask him if her friends had made it out, or if she could back them up while they covered the retreat. She caught a glimpse of his forest green hair, and she began to pick up the pace, until she suddenly heard a call to her left. “Ruby!” The crimsonette turned and followed the voice, spying snow white hair in the crowd.

“WEISS!” She began pushing and shoving through the crowd, and she reached her teammate. She took a breath, not pausing at all before she began talking at her partner. “Ok, Torchwick’s ship went down, and the airfleet was destroyed. But I heard Professor Oobleck say that we’re retreating, which is good. Did Blake and Yang make it out yet? What about Jaune and Pyrrha?” She slowed down, and she noticed that some blood was trickling down Weiss’ face. Over her closed eyelid, and down her cheek. “Weiss…your scar.” She slowed down, noticing Weiss shake her head slowly. “Blake? Yang? Weiss, where are they?!” She saw Weiss’ open eye tear up, and as she was about to start grilling her for information, she caught a glimpse of golden hair over the heiress’ shoulders.

Ruby shoved past Weiss desperately, to which she didn’t resist at all, and she walked forward a few steps, before stopping again and staring down at her teammates. Yang was down, barely conscious, and whimpering softly. Her right arm was…gone, removed above the elbow, and it was crudely bandaged up. Beside Yang was Blake, down on one knee, with her left hand gently holding Yang’s shoulder, and her right pressing against a stab wound that her aura was just starting to heal in little places. She heard a choked sob leave Blake, and watched the cat Faunus punch the ground, hard enough to hurt her wrist if Ruby was to guess. She raced over and kneeled down next to Blake, examining Yang quickly and desperately.

“What…what happened?” She felt her breathing start to shake, but she didn’t let herself slip. She couldn’t yet. She had to be strong, at least until the fight was over. She had her cry over Penny…she couldn’t cry again. Not yet. She hadn’t unraveled over Penny, and this wouldn’t make her unravel. She _will_ be strong for them. Blake looked over at Ruby, and Ruby offered a hand, but Blake shrank away. She shook her head, not saying a word, before she faded into shadows, leaving a small black mist where she just stood. Ruby looked around, not spotting her black bowed friend anywhere. She looked to Weiss, who walked over and kneeled next to Ruby, placing one hand on her shoulder.

“I don’t know everything, but we were pinned down in the courtyard, me, CFVY and SSSN. I was going to run to the dorm for my dust supply, but I found her fighting someone in the dining hall. I think it was Adam Taurus. Blake wrote about him in her journal and he’s Vale’s White Fang lea-”

“I know who he is. Did he do this?” She stared at where Yang’s arm _should_ be, and she glared at the ground. She could have been there. Maybe as a team they could have beaten him. Made him back down or even surrender. She could have been there. She should have been there. She looked at Weiss, silver eyes meeting blue. She noticed Weiss had stopped bleeding, and she had partially opened her closed eye.

“He…he did. I tried to defend Blake, but he just tore through me. And Yang tried to jump in but…” She gulped and looked away. “We were all saved at the last minute. Winter and some woman in black saved our lives, and then they ran off to go find your uncle. I think they said something about Beacon Tower.” Ruby stood up and looked to the Bullhead that was slowly filling up with students, then back at the tower. Suddenly, Sun jogged up behind them and he quickly looked at Yang, then to Ruby and Weiss, his tail swaying softly before curling up behind him.

“The White Fang is pulling out, and-wait, where’s Blake? She was just here, is she ok?” Ruby looked back toward Sun, and she sighed. Their eyes met and he sighed too. His hands closed slightly before he reached for his gun-chucks. “I’ll help you find her. Any ideas?” Ruby shook her head and looked around the courtyard, then back to her fallen sister. A paramedic team had left the airship, and they were heading toward them.

“I don’t know where she is, but we need to find her, before-” She felt her scroll buzz in her combat skirt pocket, and she quickly pulled it out. She’d completely forgotten about it since she went to go fight Torchwick, and as she activated it, she noticed a few scratches that weren’t there earlier in the day. Or maybe it was yesterday. She didn’t know how long the battle had been going for, and it was rather late when Pyrrha and Penny…she gulped and shook her head to remove those thoughts from her head. She received a message from Jaune five minutes ago. Another message from Ren three minutes ago. A third from Ren just now. Her eyes began widening and she quickly began to look through them.

_Vomit Boy: Cinder, need backup, Beacon Tower, find Prof_

_Flower Power: Ruby, going to Beacon Tower, Jaune needs backup, Ren._

_Flower Power: Ruby, pinned down in Tower Courtyard, need backup, Ren._

Ruby’s eyes widened as she turned to Weiss and Sun. “Jaune and Pyrrha went to fight Cinder! They’re at the tower! So are Ren and Nora but they’re pinned down. We need to go help them!” Her voice sounded more panicked than she even thought possible, but if Weiss and Sun noticed, they didn’t acknowledge it. They quickly looked to each other, then back at Ruby. Ruby looked to Yang, who was being helped up onto a stretcher by the paramedics. “Yang’s safe. We need to go now.” She turned to run but felt Sun grab her shoulder.

“Wait, what about Blake? She’s missing too. And we should tell the professors about it.” Ruby turned and glared at Sun lightly, but not out of anger. Out of determination. At least, that’s what she hoped he saw.

“There’s no time! You can go tell them, then find Blake, but Jaune and Pyrrha are fighting Cinder right now! We need to help them!” As if waiting for a cue, the high-pitched shriek of the Wyvern could be heard, and Ruby saw its massive form begin to circle Beacon Tower, before perching on it. “I’m going.”

Weiss nodded and she looked to Sun. “Go get the professors and find Blake, we’ll go help JNPR.” Sun groaned but he nodded, and he glared at the two girls. Ruby didn’t care, and she began running with Weiss toward the Tower.

“You two better not get yourselves killed!” She heard Sun call out from behind them. She smiled at his warning, before she grabbed Weiss’ hand, and burst into her speed. It was something she only did occasionally during training, and she knew Weiss wasn’t used to it, but they needed it now. Ignoring Weiss’ warning cry, they erupted into a flurry of white and red petals, passing by numerous Grimm and Atlesian androids as Ruby moved swiftly, a girl on a mission. They arrived in the Tower Courtyard mere seconds after they’d erupted, the fallen structures providing excellent shortcuts to their destination.

When they came to a stop, Weiss took a short minute to catch her breath while Ruby observed the battlefield. She saw a pack of Beowolves fighting Ren and Nora, and while they were more than holding their own, they weren’t in a good position to enter the tower, especially not as Creeps began spawning nearby from the Wyvern’s…was that blood? She didn’t really know or care. Looking at the tower again, Ruby had realized that the top had been entirely blown off, and a split second later, she watched one of the gears that filled Ozpin’s office fall to the ground nearby, embedding itself into the cobble stoned path below.

She looked to Weiss, then to Ren and Nora, then to the tower. “Weiss! Ice Flower!” Weiss perked up at the callout, and she nodded quickly, understanding what Ruby needed. She gently flourished her blade, before she pressed it down against the ground, and formed a glyph in front of Ruby. Ruby watched as the Creeps began running toward them, and when they were lined up _just right_ , she fired. The bullets flew through the glyph, slamming into the Creeps and causing them to freeze on the spot, until they formed enough stepping-stones for her to use her semblance on and reach the tower walls. Weiss clearly understood Ruby’s strategy, because she lifted her blade off the ground, and pulled it back, a glyph forming at its tip. She pointed two fingers at the wall, and a line of black glyphs formed up it.

“Go! I’ll back Ren and Nora up down here, and we’ll meet you up there when we’re done.” Ruby nodded toward Weiss, and she gave her a quick thumbs up as she strapped her sniper to her back. A small smile formed on her lips, before she looked back at the tower. It wouldn’t even take her a minute to reach it. She took a breath and began racing forward. She didn’t know it yet, but she’d always wish that she was just a little faster.

She felt every step she took, heard every click of her heels, and the snarling of the Grimm from both above and below. _Click, Clack, Click, Clack._ She jumped up, onto the Creep she had frozen, and despite the cracking ice, she managed to push herself off it, and fuel her semblance just enough to launch herself up toward the wall, and landing perfectly in the center of the first jet black glyph. She began to run again, hearing her boots crash roughly against stone, and as she drew closer and closer to the top, she saw flashes of orange, yellow, and red. She heard crashes, whistles of projectiles, and roaring of fire overhead. As she drew closer and closer, she began feeling an intense heat, and sweat began to drip down her brow. When she finally reached the top, she jumped up a few extra feet, and pulled out Crescent Rose, leaving it in its sniper form, and ready to take a shot. Cinder was open…but Ruby was distracted completely by what she saw before her.

Jaune was on the ground, groaning in pain as his aura flickered. Cinder stood, triumphant, one hand flaming, while the other held a bow made black glass. And Pyrrha…with the black arrow from the bow sticking out of her chest. After she landed, time slowed to a crawl. Ruby would remember this moment…she would remember Pyrrha, on her knees, an arrow piercing her heart. She would remember her friend’s very body leaving this world in a pile of ash, her circlet clattering to the ground where she just was. And she would remember herself, falling to her knees and screaming, finding it so much harder to see through a blinding silver light.

And then…she would black out, feeling her body float upward as she lost consciousness. She felt weightless, and remembered flashes of sights, and little voices here and there. She saw the moon and heard the caw of a raven. She heard a low hum and saw a red light. There was Uncle Qrow’s rough voice, saying things she couldn’t quite make out other than ‘Hold on, kiddo’. Her father’s smoother and smaller voice, telling her to stay with them. Even a small whimpering bark from Zwei. She didn’t know how long she was floating like this, until suddenly, she opened her eyes and sat up quickly, screaming Pyrrha’s name. Everything rushed back in at once. The gravity grounding her, the gentle chill in the autumn air, the softness of the bed she had been tucked into, the morning sunlight as it entered her room, and the weight of her small corgi, curled up in her lap. It took her a brief moment of looking around, and deep breathing to realize where she was. She was back home…not in Beacon, but in Patch. The small house that her family lived in, just off the outskirts of town. The walls were painted a soft rose gold, and her shelves above the work desk to her left held all the action figures and little collectables she’d gathered over the years, almost exactly as she left them, with the exception of them being cleaner. Freshly dusted.

She began to gently pet Zwei, who had sat up slightly out of concern when she screamed, before he settled back down against her leg. She began to breathe softly, and she looked down at Zwei as she started petting him softly. She felt soothed, as she gently continued running her hand along Zwei’s fur. Everything in her head felt fuzzy, and she struggled to recall what happened the night before…it was the night before wasn’t it? Before she could fully regain her thoughts, her father slammed open the door and rushed into the room.

“Ruby! You’re awake.” As she was embraced, she looked around, so confused as to how she got here. She opened her mouth to ask her questions, but none left her. Beacon had really fallen. Yang really had lost. Pyrrha really had…and Penny…they…they were gone. All at once Ruby’s world began crashing around her, and she began hugging her father back. Their grips tightened, and Ruby’s breathing shook, faster and faster, until finally, a small weep escaped the silver eyed girl. And she came undone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note
> 
> Thanks for reading, for the first time or again. I am looking forward to continuing to write this and publish it.
> 
> Recently I have gotten a job which will slow my writing process, but I will still attempt to upload at least monthly, and hopefully twice a month as I have been.
> 
> Hope you'll continue to enjoy the story if you have so far. It will go into a much different place once we're done with the Fall of Beacon.
> 
> Comment Responses:
> 
> ArkosLover07: Please don't kill Pyrrha again. I beg of you.  
> "I'm sorry, little one." ~ Thanos


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